Under the auspices of the European Parliament in 1994, the European Federation of Artists´ Colonies (EuroArt) was officially founded. 
The organization comprises 107 members, 45 artists’ colonies in 13 countries (as of February 2025).

How did the artists’ colonies develop?

As a phenomenon, the artists’ colonies came into being in the first half of the 19th century.  French, and later foreign painters went to Barbizon in the woods of Fontainebleau and Grez-sur-Loing further south. After Barbizon, small, or bigger artists’ colonies sprang up all over Europe, in England, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, Hungary and Switzerland among others. After the First World War, most artists’ colonies of the old style lost their appeal. 

Today, lots of the old artists’ colonies have survived and are blossoming in new ways. 
I, Mayumi Yamakawa, have been a  membership of the Künstlervereiningung Dachau (the Dachau Artists’ Association) more than 1.5 decades, EuroArt.

In February 2021, euroart was granted the “Participatory status with the Council of Europe (see logomark below)”, assessing the federation as “a unique European network working towards a greater cultural understanding and cooperation”.